The rework of Athena Manoukian’s Eurovision 2020 song “Chains on You” was, in the minds of many, the best revamp of the year. Casting off repetition and fully ready for primetime, the revamp takes us on a journey through space-age sounds, sensual breaths and even electro-bass boom. How do you say fire in Armenian?
But the sonic changes weren’t the only things to cheer about. Athena delivered a breath-taking music video that features on-point choreography and plenty of looks.
“We had only two weeks after Depi Evratesil to revamp the song and shoot the music video, and after days and nights of rehearsals and preparations I’m very excited to share the result of our work,” Athena told us on the day of the reveal. “It is truly a joy working alongside such a professional team and believe me, we have a lot more surprises coming up!”
Well among the lovely surprises we’ve enjoyed since Eurovision is watching behind-the-scenes footage, which shows you how much of a production this really was. Arthur Manukyan — Armenia’s top director — has uploaded an edit to his Instagram account. And that reminded us of the lovely full B-T-S video above.
The footage shows Athena hard-at-work as she and her team perfect their choreography and angles. It was truly a team effort. We see Athena mounting that massive diamond stage with a ladder — and a helping hand from a member of the crew. Later, when our queen gets the chills, Arthur rests a striped blanket on her delicate shoulders. A star must be taken care of, you know.
Athena is seen using breaks in production to restore her mind and body. After a series of strenuous takes, Athena stretches her hamstring on top of the diamond. Later she lies flat on her back, taking in the enormity of the video shoot while hitting reboot mentally.
Earlier footage released by the singer gives up one of her other tricks to staying on point: a sweet indulgence between takes.
In March she shared a video of her chowing down on a sugary snack. A crew member instructs her not to share them, as she needs the treats to keep up her energy. But Athena proceeds to give one to the director anyway. She is a generous spirit.
“Chains On You” was composed by Athena and DJ Paco, and written by Athena. The revamp of the song was done by Armenian singer/songwriter Artem Valter.
Armenia is yet to confirm how it will choose its singer for Eurovision 2021. Stay tuned…
Do you hope to see Athena at Eurovision 2021? Do you think she should be automatically picked or compete in Depi Evratesil again? Let us know down below!
I sure would like to see her back. “Chains on You” was a real grower. Quick little JESC update for those curious: I just might have to eat my words about the UK coming back! I thought it was damn near impossible, but the BBC actually made a statement that sounds kinda-sorta-almost not like a complete rejection of even the possibility of competing, which is already more than I expected. According to another site, they said this: “The decision has simply not been made quite yet. The best advice I could offer for now would be to keep an eye… Read more »
(It’d also mean, if Italy sticks around, that it’d be the first JESC ever with the entire Big 5 present. It’d also be a neat counterpoint to the assertion that the UK and Ireland only did so well in the ’80s and ’90s since they could sing in English – even if the UK can, Ireland’s entries are only in Irish).
Yeah, that’s kinda why I don’t want the UK to come back, ’cause 1. S4C are clearly very passionate about the contest and, despite the poor results, their two entries were quality meaningful songs (heck, “Perta” was one of my favourites in 2018), and 2. it would probably mean goodbye to Welsh language, which would be a total bummer, as one of the reasons why I have a lot of sympathy for JESC is that it gives you a chance to get familiar with all the wonderful obscure languages you don’t normally get to hear at Eurovision. In other Junior… Read more »
Let the chips fall where they may, I suppose. Fact is, as long as the BBC (if they decide to participate) pick a good song and follow France and Spain in triumphantly picking up where they left off, that’ll just be another good song in the lineup (and hey, it’d be nice to see the UK do well at a Eurovision event nowadays). But I also love seeing all these languages get time to shine, especially our Celtic duo. I was also thinking it’d be nice if Bulgaria could compete if they had the money (look, San Marino was able… Read more »
If the UK and Azerbaijan come back and none of the other countries from last year withdraw somehow (I have my doubts on all of those), that’d be twenty countries!
Side note: I also just gave a listen to “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the song Levent Geiger won Dein Song with last year…man, it’s really good! If he sends something cool and contemporary like that to Junior Eurovision, Germany are in for a strong debut.
Huh, that would be ironic – a record number of countries in one of the most dramatic years for Eurovision.
As for “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, it’s not for me, I’m afraid. I definitely prefer Gerry & The Pacemakers’ classic football anthem between the two.
I doubt we’ll get twenty, personally, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong if all the delegations are safe. Like I said before, JESC isn’t nearly as much my thing as regular ESC, but given the lack of the real deal and the slow unveiling of any info regarding 2021, I’ll take what I can get. I feel less silly getting invested in it now than I would be in, say, 2013 at least. Speaking of the latter: you a Liverpool fan? I’m Chelsea myself, but seeing as Chelsea’s win helped Liverpool clinch the League, I feel like we’re… Read more »
I’m not much of a sports fan, to be honest. For me it’s just a bunch of men kicking a ball for 90 minutes. Multiple people tried to convert me, but I never understood their passion just like they cannot understand my passion for Eurovision. I know the basics, I watch the World Cup, I support my hometown club (go, Lech Poznan!), but that’s it.
I’ve been slowly converted, mostly for international competitions like the Euro or the World Cup since they’re basically Eurovision But Sports, but local leagues have also been interesting me as of late (football in England and baseball in the USA mostly).
(If Skiwalko and I are getting downvoted for taking the conversation away from Athena, I apologize – we get carried away, like people do when they have good conversations)
Yep, that’s the aspect I like the most – looking at graphs, statistics, which country is in which group with whom, much more than the matches themselves. I know Superbowl is a big deal in America, what’s your stance on that?
(I promise we’re finishing)
The Euro particularly interests me in that regard. I’d love to try and do a fan contest with all those countries at some point. And how there’s a rule to try and prevent feuding countries from having to compete against each other (which DEFINITELY doesn’t apply to Eurovision – if anything they put them together since they aren’t likely to buffer each other up). American football isn’t really my thing. I mostly like baseball (go Mets!), basketball (go Knicks, please stop sucking!), and soccer (I know nothing about American soccer except our national team screwed the pooch in the last… Read more »
You’re right, thanks for reminding! It’s weird how male-oriented the world of sport is. Come to think of it, I can’t name a single female football player, and I feel really ashamed.
Oh yes! I did follow the last Women’s World Cup! I was incredibly proud of our team (and it’s very rare for me to be proud of anything my country does lately), especially the GOAT Megan Rapinoe. Damn, that was amazing.
I felt less guilty about us beating the Netherlands because, as I rationalized it, “They already got Eurovision this year, let us have this one.” Makes Zondaag mit Lubatsch’s tongue-in-cheek “America First, Netherlands Second” PSA actually kinda ring true.
There are already some rumors on Instagram that athena is about to return to 2021 and it will be revealed in November (ask @escxsupergirl for more information). Personally I really hope that athena will represent armenia next year becuase she really deserves it after all the hard work that she has done with chains on you and it’s clear that she has a lot more in store to offer us. Chains on you is just a little book in that store.
yeah that is true. Athena also said on eurovision shine a light ‘I’ll see you very soon’ and also answered an instagram live question about 2021 saying ‘ssh..’ with a loveheart so that confirms it but of course they would select athen again.
Yeah, always since the eurovision 2020 cancellation I had the feeling that 2020 is not going to be athenas end.
oh no only the beginning.
hi , it’s almost February and she is not here